Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/137

 AMBKACIUS. wrdf a iniElJffT' post, which was an that the swimp7 lutore of the i^nmnd would admit of. (Wolfe, Ibid, f, S4.) This fortress oommanded ^e harbour, wfaich is described by S^lax and Dicaearchns (JL eci) as a xKittrrhs Ajfi^, or a port with a nanrow entniice, iHudi xmght be shat with a chaiD. The huboor Biiist hsTe been an artificial one; for the pRsmt month of the Aita b so obstructed by swamps ud thoals as acandy to be accessible even to boats. Ib aadent times its navigation was abo esteemed dsDgaaas, whence Lncan (▼. 651) speaks of " onie aaj^rna^ Ambradaie portus." Cimneia (Kpdat^ta) was a small rilbige sitoated flo a mMmtain of the same name, which Leake snp- poHs to have been the high monntahi now called XeAerMi, whidi rises from the right bank of the rnvjlrto, immediately opposite to tibe town. Between the territory of Ambracia and Amphi- hdatLf Dicaeazchns (45) mentions a people cidlod Otritae (*Op«crau), who appear to haTo been in- ha t ai au t s of die moontains named Jfolrtaoro, be- fioiing at the NW. comer of the Ambtadot gnlf. AMERIA. 121 COIN OF AMBRACIA. AMBRA'CIUS SINUS (6 'Afirpwcuchs KiKm, Tbae.L55; t 'A/tSptucuAs artUwos, PoL iv. 63, Stnb. pu 325, et al.; i? ^dXeuraa ^ 'Apurpcueueiij DioD CaesL L IS : Sinns Ambradns, Liy. xxxriii. 4; lid. iL 3: GulfofArta an arm of the Ionian BBS, hring b e t w e e n Epims and Acamania, so called horn the town of Ambracia. Polybins (I. c.) de- scribes the bay as 300 stadia in length, and 100 sCMlia in breadth: Strabo (/. e.) gives 300 stadia as its dreomference, which is absurdly too small. Its leal lo^ is 25 miles, and its breadth 10. The cBtnaoB of the gnlf^ one side of which was fonned W the prnmnntofy of Actinm, is described under Acnm. In amsequenoe of the victory which Augustus gained over Antony at the entrance to tins gulf, Sxtins (^SUo, iL 2. 8) giTes the name of Awkbradae fromdea to the crowns of laurel bestowed Vfen the Tictors in the Actian games. The Am- bcadns Sinns is also frequently mentioned in Greek hHtary. On it were the towns of Aigos Amphi- Inrliiaim, snd Anactoirinm, and the sea-port of Am- bfada. The rirers Chandra and Anchthus flowed vto it from the N. It was celebrated in antiquity its excellent fish, and particularly for a species rfspof. (Ath. vL p. 92, d., vii. pp. 305, e., 31 1, a., 326, d.) The modem gulf still maintains its chaadcr in this respect The red and grey mullet an aoKt abondant, and there are also plenty of soles aadeels. (YiiASe,Ob9ervati(m$<m1k^GvifofArta, la Jamrmal of Geographical Societg, toL iiL) AMBBY'SUS or AMPHBT'SUS ("AM^fwirof, Sbah.; ^Afiifmraos, Pans.; "Afitpfntoos, Steph. B. S.V.: Etk. *A/u6p^ioSf *AfjLSpvot6s, and in Inscr. ■Cnrted 60 stadia from Stiris, N£. of Anticyn, at the sBBtfam foot of Mt. CirpUs (not at the foot of Patimsww, as Pansanias states), and in a fertile taikyf producing abundance of wine and the coocw, er kennn-beny, used to dye scarlet. It was de- slnyed by order of the Amphictyous, but was rebuilt and fortified by the Thebans with a double wall, in their war against Philip. Its fortifications were considered by Pausanias the strongest in Greece, next to those of Messene. (Paus. x. 3. § 2, x. 36. § I, seq., iv. 31. § 5; Strab. p. 423.) It was taken by the Boraans in the Macedonian war, b. c. 198. (Lit. xxzii. 18.) The site of Ambiysus is fixed at the modem village of DMstomo^ by an inscripdon which Chandler found at the latter place. The remains of the ancient city are few and inconsider- able. (Dodwell, Tow through Greece^ vol. i. p. 196, seq.; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii p. 535, seq.) AMENATaJS (JAfjLtvayoSj Stnb.: 'Afuyayds, Steph. Byz. where the MSS. have 'A/uAuiyiJs: 'A^^- yof, Pind.: Amenana flumina, Ovid. Fast, iv. 467), a small river of Sicily which flows through the aty of Catania, now called the GiudiceUo, It is noticed by Strabo (p. 240) as remark- able for the vicissitudes to which it was subject, its waters sometimes foiling altogether for years, and then flowing again in abunduice. The same peculiarity is remarked by Ovid (Met, xv. 279), and is still observed with regard to the GnuUcetto. It is probably connected witib intemal changes of Etna, at the foot of which it rises. (Fazell. iii. 1. p. 138 ; Cluver. SicU. p. 120; IVOryille, Sicula, p. 218.) Pindar speaks of the newly founded city of Aetna (the name given by Hieron to Catana) as rituated by the waters of the Amenas, but the correctness of the form Amenanos, preserved by Strabo, is attested by coins of Catana, which bear on the obverse the head of the river deity, under the usual form of a youthful male head with horns on the forehead, and the name at full length AMENANOS. (CastelL SkiL Numism. pi. 20, fig. 8.) [E. H. B.] AMEIUA. [Cabiba.] AME'BIA CA^cp^ Strab. Ptol Plut. Mar, 17; ^Afjiipiov, Steph. B. : Eth, Amerinus : Amelia), one of the most ancient and important dties of Umbria, situated about 15 m. S. of Tuder, and 7 W. of Namia, on a hill between the valley of the Tiber and that of the Nar, a few miles above their junction. Strab. p. 227; PUn. iu. 14. s. 19; Ptol. in. 1. 54; Festos, ».v.) According to Cato (jap. Plin. L c) it was founded 964 years before the war with Perseus, or 1135 b. c: and although this date can- not be regarded as historical, it may be received as evidence of a belief in its remote antiquity. The still extant remains of its ancient waUs, constmcted in the polygonal style, prove it to have been a place of strength in early times: but it is remarkable that its name is not once mentioned during the wars of Bome with Uie Umbrians, nor does it occur in history previous to the time of Cicero. But the great srator, in his defence of Sex. Boscias, whowas anative of Ameria, repeatedly mentions it in a manner which proves that it must then have been a flourishing municipol town: its territory extended to the Tiber, and was fertile in oaers and fruit trees. (Cic. pro Sex, Rote, 7, 9,&c.; Virg. Georg. i265;Colum. iv. 30, V. 10.) Its lands were psrtioned out by Augustus among his veterans; but it did not obtain the rank of a colony, as we find it both in Pliny and inscrip- tions of later date styled only a munidiaum. (Lib. Colon, p. 224; Zumpt. de Colon, p. 356; Inscr. ap. Grot. p. 485. 5, 1101. 2, 1104.) The modem town of Amelia retains the ancient site as well as con- siderable portions of the ancient walls : it is now a small place with only about 2000 inhabitants, though stQ] t^ see of a bii^op. The Tabula Peutingeriana gives a line of road
 * AmifmW€if: DUttomo), a town of Phods, was